Graduation reinvented: High schools tailor pomp to tough circumstance

Thursday

May 21, 2020 at 1:31 PM

KENNEBUNK, Maine – RSU 21 administrators are listening to seniors’ wishes and have agreed to move Kennebunk High School’s upcoming graduation ceremony from indoors to outdoors.

“We’re looking at how we might set that up,” KHS Principal Susan Cressey said Thursday, referring to the safety guidelines that will need to be in place during the ceremony as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ceremony will be held at KHS on Sunday, June 7, at 2 p.m.

Originally, the commencement was going to be held in the high school’s gymnasium, according to Cressey. Graduates would have remained in their cars until called to enter the gym in small groups, in accordance with state restrictions allowing gatherings of fewer than 50 people. Each graduate would have been able to be accompanied by two family members. Once inside, the graduates would have been greeted by Cressey and Superintendent Phillip Potenziano, and the graduates would have gotten their diplomas themselves from a nearby table. The proceedings would have been live-streamed for others to watch online. Once everyone would have received their diplomas and returned to the cars, the ceremonial changing-over of the tassels would have taken place.

Several seniors pushed back against the plan, however, in the hopes something different and more accommodating could take place.

“We thought there were other creative ways to go about our graduation,” KHS senior Declan Archer said Wednesday.

The indoor plan would not have allowed graduates to see all of their peers receive their diplomas live and in person, Archer noted.

“I think it’s important for my family to be there because they’ve seen how hard I’ve worked,” Archer said. “It’s also important for me to graduate with my friends. I’ve been with them since kindergarten – some of them since preschool. It’s important for me to see them graduate too.”

Archer and some of his peers reached out to administrators and expressed their concerns. Administrators responded by holding a Zoom meeting with the Class of 2020’s executive council on Wednesday morning.

According to Cressey, three options were identified at the meeting: proceed with the indoor ceremony; move the ceremony outside at KHS; or hold the ceremony at an off-site location. The council issued a survey, in which a majority of seniors expressed a preference to have the ceremony outside at KHS.

“We wanted to listen to them,” said Cressey, adding that seniors have “lost so much” as a result of the pandemic causing cherished traditions to be canceled.

Archer said the issue was “nothing against the administrators.”

“We love and appreciate all of them,” he said.

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Due to the pandemic, high schools everywhere are coming up with alternatives to the beloved pomp and circumstance, in which seniors traditionally march side by side in a long line and take their seats in crowds of hundreds of their families and friends.

In Sanford, a Graduation Committee, comprised of administrators, teachers and senior class advisers, decided to hold a “drive-through” graduation ceremony on Wednesday, June 10, at 4 p.m. Seniors will pull up in their cars in the parking lot of Sanford High to receive their diplomas. Afterward, the graduates will form a procession and drive slowly north on Main Street, from Alumni Boulevard in South Sanford to the center of Springvale at 7 p.m.

“This will give the community and those unable to attend the ceremony an opportunity to applaud and acknowledge the Class of 2020 and their accomplishments,” SHS Principal Matthew Petermann said is a letter to the seniors and their parents and guardians.

On Wednesday, Petermann said he is proud of the program the committee has put together for graduates.

“With all the restrictions, it has been a huge challenge, but we feel we are doing something that is just as unique as our current situation and hoping it creates an experience that (seniors) will not forget,” Petermann said.

As for the graduates of Wells High School, they’ll be off to the movies, so to speak, for their commencement ceremony on Thursday, June 11, at 9 p.m. Their graduation will be held at the Saco Drive-in on Route 1.

Superintendent of Schools James Daly said WHS Principal Eileen Sheehy, Assistant Principal Joshua Gould, class advisers Cindy and Tim Roche and senior student leaders “did a great job continuing to find the best option for our students.” They surveyed the senior class many times as more options became available, Daly added.

“The students selected the drive-in celebration late last week,” Daly said. “Though it will not replace a traditional graduation, it will be great to get all of our students together – though in separate vehicles – to celebrate their outstanding contributions to Wells High School.

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